Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2019

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup founders quandaries in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. Don’t wait for the harsh reality of the demanding business world to start thinking about these tradeoffs. Marty Zwilling.

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Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event Startup 243

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

From RBI, Flexible VCs borrow the ability to reap meaningful returns without demanding founders build for an exit. As a result, unfounded hockey-stick graphs and unicorn promises give way to financial fluency, realistic expectations, frank conversations about what a business can credibly achieve, and transparency. .

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Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 26, 2014

Every entrepreneur thinks he can relax a bit after his business model is proven, funding is in place, and revenues are scaling as projected up that hockey-stick curve. An expanding customer base demands better support. Successful entrepreneurs and successful companies never stop re-inventing themselves.

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Hockey Stick Guerilla Acquisition Revenue 263

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2018

Every entrepreneur thinks he can relax a bit after his business model is proven, funding is in place, and revenues are scaling as projected up that hockey-stick curve. An expanding customer base demands better support. Successful entrepreneurs and successful companies never stop re-inventing themselves.

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Hockey Stick Guerilla Acquisition Revenue 130

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2013

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup Founders dilemmas in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. Don’t wait for the harsh reality of the demanding business world to start thinking about these tradeoffs. Marty Zwilling.

Founder 245

Founder Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event 245

crowdSPRING Blog

SEPTEMBER 8, 2017

The Economist thoughtfully reassures us that while AI will unquestionably take over certain jobs, the use of AI will demand specific job creation. Good insight … Navigating The Make-Or-Break Years As You Create Hockey Stick Growth [link]. Which of the 4 types of entrepreneurs are you? Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto!

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Artificial Inteligence Hockey Stick Small Business Design 48

crowdSPRING Blog

SEPTEMBER 8, 2017

The Economist thoughtfully reassures us that while AI will unquestionably take over certain jobs, the use of AI will demand specific job creation. Good insight … Navigating The Make-Or-Break Years As You Create Hockey Stick Growth [link]. Which of the 4 types of entrepreneurs are you? Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto!

Artificial Inteligence 48

Artificial Inteligence Hockey Stick Small Business Design 48

thebarefootvc

DECEMBER 16, 2011

In places where international diplomacy had failed, citizens around the world found their individual and collective voices to topple dictatorships and demand better lives for themselves and future generations. What comes next remains to be seen but these revolutions even empowered individuals not touched directly by the uprisings.

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Technical Review India Mobile Hockey Stick 110

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 1, 2015

Every entrepreneur thinks he can relax a bit after his business model is proven, funding is in place, and revenues are scaling as projected up that hockey-stick curve. An expanding customer base demands better support. Successful entrepreneurs and successful companies never stop re-inventing themselves.

Hockey Stick 120

Hockey Stick Guerilla Startup Acquisition 120

Steve Blank

JANUARY 4, 2010

A lot of entrepreneurs think that their startup is the next big thing when in reality they’re just building a small business. Not only did their sales curve look like a textbook case of a VC-friendly hockey stick, but their Lessons Learned funding presentation was an eye-opener.). The word entrepreneur covers a lot of ground.

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Hockey Stick Venture Capital Startup Cofounder 284

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 21, 2010

Since we often invest before the big “hockey stick” traction that bigger VCs wait for, a lot of times the company is still trying to tweak exactly what service or application will take off in a given market. A less product-focused entrepreneur would not have been able to make that call.

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Product Hockey Stick Entrepreneur Syndicate 68

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 16, 2010

You would think that would be enough to get wrong, but entrepreneurs and investors compound this problem by assuming that all startups grow and scale by executing the Revenue Plan. Enough entrepreneurs have heard this mantra that they put together their revenue plan working backwards from this goal. They don’t. Lessons Learned.

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Revenue Balance Sheet Hockey Stick Burn Rate 231

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

While that’s not true, it is a fact that entrepreneurs only have one word for “startup.” With that implicit assumption, startups hire a VP of Sales with a great rolodex and call on established mainstream companies while marketing creates a brand and buzz to create demand and drive it into the sales channel (web, direct salesforce, etc.)

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Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 203

Small Business Force

FEBRUARY 15, 2013

Every entrepreneur dreams of success.But few truly plan for it. This has caused such success for the company that it has taxed their manufacturing capacity and they have been unable to meet market demand. Many entrepreneurs would view this as a problem they would love to have. The Entrepreneur's Yoda" knows these things.

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Hockey Stick Dilution Viral Demand 37

Hippoland

AUGUST 8, 2018

Unit economics are something I’ve found most entrepreneurs (and investors!) Forget about traction and hockey stick growth. Many serial entrepreneurs tend to gravitate towards building B2B startups. don’t think about at all. It’s hard to get there without ideal unit economics.

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Founder Sales Cycle Affiliate Retention 48

Hippoland

AUGUST 8, 2018

Unit economics are something I’ve found most entrepreneurs (and investors!) Forget about traction and hockey stick growth. Many serial entrepreneurs tend to gravitate towards building B2B startups. don’t think about at all. It’s hard to get there without ideal unit economics.

Founder 48

Founder Sales Cycle Affiliate Retention 48

The Startup Lawyer

MARCH 11, 2010

Each time a new set of docs get released, I don’t cringe because it means I then have to remove the hockey stick from my revenue projections. I welcome these and future standardized seed funding docs because they provide entrepreneurs with the chance to take a look at financing terms. Clients come better prepared now.

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Delaware Hockey Stick Preferred Stock Open Source 49

The Startup Lawyer

MARCH 11, 2010

Each time a new set of docs get released, I don’t cringe because it means I then have to remove the hockey stick from my revenue projections. I welcome these and future standardized seed funding docs because they provide entrepreneurs with the chance to take a look financing terms. Clients come better prepared now.

Delaware 45

Delaware Hockey Stick Preferred Stock Open Source 45

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 12, 2009

I am a young entrepreneur here, absolutely dying to hear the talk. You already have the hockey stick and exponential growth. And many of the best entrepreneurs experience failure a number of times before building a legendary business (thanks Steve Blank, you’re an info sharing rockstar). The rest is just fluff.

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Venture Capital Silicon Valley RSS Hockey Stick 216

Duct Tape Marketing

JULY 26, 2017

Though I would say based on the numbers that I see it’s not like a hockey stick growth, but the growth in people’s desire to listen to the content and people’s desire to create terrific podcast content has really never been higher. It’s really turned radio into an on-demand medium is what it has.

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Audio Programming Software Review Hosting 40

Up and Running

AUGUST 16, 2017

For example, missing crucial deadlines for finishing the business plan, or drawing hockey stick profit projections can repel potential investors. By focusing on the needs of the end-user, the developers of The Embrace—who were also students at Stanford—were able to create a highly demanded and successful business plan.

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Business Plan Hockey Stick Cofounder Salary 127